Ohio Democratic Party Tackles Bob Murray's Coercive Tactics

I'm sure even as I write this Ohio Republican Party chair Bob Bennett is griping about how "partisan" the accusations against Bob Murray of Murray Energy are, and that there was nothing out of line in Murray's pressuring his employees and vendors to funnel large sums of money to Republican candidates of his choice and to attend the frequent fundraisers he held for them.

I wrote about all that yesterday:

http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/content/murray-energys-bob-murray-quot-grea...

Today Ohio Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern held a telephone press conference to announce that he's requesting that these donations be investigated by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steven Dettelbach and Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty. Murray is based in Cuyahoga County.

In his letter to Dettelbach, he said,

On behalf of the Ohio Democratic Party, I write to formally request a criminal investigation concerning a recent report suggesting the Murray Energy Corporation, its subsidiaries, and management (“Murray Energy”) may have engaged in a pattern of illegal activity, extorting millions in financial contributions from employees and vendors for Republican candidates running for public office.

The entire letter, along with letters and memos from Murray pushing participation in his fundraisers for a variety of candidates and a list of the donations Murray and his employees have made, is posted on the ODP's website. You can see for yourself the litany of awful candidates and officeholders Murray spends his time stumped for — all but two of them Republicans. (Redfern mentioned that former 6th district congressman Charlie Wilson, who is currently challenging Bill Johnson to take his seat back, was one of the recipients, and he has returned the money. I can't figure out who the other one is.)

It's some fun reading. You'll find it here:

http://ohiodems.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Murray_Energy_Letter11...